“You better not make this a habit. I like to wake naturally,” she grumbled.
He chuckled, face buried between her breasts. “You set your alarm for seven.” He continued teasing her pebbled pink nub. “Then you told the front desk to give you a wake-up call at seven-fifteen.” He made his way up her neck. “But you slept through both of them.” Until, he came face to face with her.
Nirvana smiled sheepishly. “Your fault. You went on and on last night.” She heaved a dramatic sigh. “It’s tough for someone my age to keep up.”
Zane nipped at her lips. “I needed to debunk certain rumors you’ve heard about younger men.”
She pulled him in for a tender kiss, but he turned it into something more scintillating as his fingers crept downwards to the junction between her thighs.
“I’m not a fan of morning sex,” she rasped when he massaged the right spot.
“I can be persuasive.”
“Oh, I know you can.”
She spread her legs wider and tilted her hips a little to give him more access. Replacing his fingers with his hard shaft, he slid into her moistening entrance and continue working on her flushed nipples with his mouth.
Nirvana dug her nails into his arms and hissed through gritted teeth. “Stop wasting time.”
Zane burst out into laughter. He pushed himself up to a kneeling position and flipped her on her front. He gave her butt a playful smack and nudged his way between her legs. She turned around to glare at him, but he just snickered and leaned over her to suckle a spot on her neck.
“But I like taking my time,” he whispered into her ear.
She tried to wriggle herself out of his hold, but he trapped her by resting his arms beside hers and holding her hands. Using his legs to spread her wider, he poked around until he felt her moist entrance.
He entered in one hard thrust, taking her by surprise, and kept going at a relentless pace until he had to pause to prevent himself from spilling too early.
Nirvana groaned. “I don’t know if I can keep up with you at the rate you’re going.”
Zane reached under her and rubbed her clitoris as he picked up the tempo again. “I’ve been jacking off to a mental image of you since I started puberty. You can’t expect me to have much self-control now that you’re here with me.”
He could tell from her stiffening thighs that she was close, so he sped up and gritted his teeth, hoping he could hold off his own orgasm until she’d had hers. The moment she started spasming down there, he knew he could let go. He gave a few more hard thrusts before he finally exploded.
Nirvana reached behind to grab Zane’s hair and pulled.
“Owwww,” he laughed as she continued to pull until he was lying beside her.
“Enough, get off me. No more shiatsu mojo,” she panted in between breaths.
“I didn’t do the shiatsu this time.” He removed her hand from his hair and pressed a kiss to her wrist.
“Doesn’t matter what it is. Just stop.”
“You don’t like it?”
“The problem is…” She flipped onto her side and sighed. “I like it too much. It messes with my ability to think rationally every time you sex my brains out.”
He laughed.
She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. “Love your hair.”
“Well, touch to your heart’s content while you can. It’s got to go later. Eryn told me to shave before the op.”
Her eyes widened as she gasped in horror, “No!”
“You’ll get to keep most of yours. Your hair is long enough to be tied up. She’ll just shave your bottom portion off. Mine will look weird without the bottom.”
“No, it won’t! You’ll look fine!”
“It’ll grow back.”
“Oh. We need to decide who should go first,” Nirvana said, suddenly remembering what Eryn had told her the night before.
“I’ll go first. That goes without question.”
“No.”
“No! You can’t—”
“Listen to me first. Stop arguing.” She held his face firmly. “If anything happens to me, you have the entire crew backing you. They will take over from where we left off. You know the stronghold best, so you are the most crucial person here. If anything happens to you, I will still go ahead with the mission. However, you know that the failure rate is much higher because I don’t know how to access the intel in the stronghold. I should go first. Besides, you have your wonder glasses to help Eryn monitor the process.”
She was right. He couldn’t argue against that.
“It’s decided then. I’ll go first,” she declared triumphantly.
He moved on top of her and straddled her, cradling her head with his arms. “Now it’s your turn to listen to me.” He pressed a finger to her lips before she could say anything.
“There is nothing,” he emphasized, “nothing in this world that is more important to me than you. If I had known that my plan would be this screwed up, I wouldn’t have gone with it. I would have taken my family elsewhere, or just turned myself in and destroyed the network from the inside. I would never have set you up.
“The priority now is not the mission. It’s you. If you don’t make it through the operation, I’ll join you wherever you are. I don’t give a damn what my father wants. Panderon and everyone else can do go hell.
“I won’t make it without you, Nirvana.” He rested his forehead on hers. “You can’t expect me to live through the pain of losing you, and the guilt of knowing that I caused your death.”
She pondered over it for a moment, and relented, “Alright. You’ll go first.”
He collapsed next to her in relief. “Aishiteru,” he said.
“Asht,” she tried to correct him.
“Aishiteru,” he insisted, “It’s ‘I love you’ in my home language.”
She looked a little puzzled at first, then her eyes widened with realization.
He nodded, “I said it that night, and I’ll say it again. I love you.”
She leaned in to kiss him, and said with resolve, “I’ll work on it.”
“That’s more than enough.”
“And everything will be fine,” she assured him.
Zane nodded. He badly wanted to believe it too.
“Everything will be fine,” he repeated.
Chapter 31
Nirvana was a bundle of nerves.
The program had just finished calibrating the machine according to Zane’s brain scans. He was lying on the operation table, head shaved, waiting for Eryn to perform the final check on the machine. The reality suddenly sank in, and Nirvana felt fear for the first time since she decided on the operation. She wasn’t ready to lose him just yet. She tried to stop herself from imagining the worst outcome, but her mind kept straying there.
“You know,” she laughed nervously, “You’re right about going first. You would have driven everyone nuts with your anxiety by now.”
Zane smiled at her. She’d been holding his hand whenever she could the whole morning. She didn’t know whether it was him or her that needed the comfort.
“Alright, I’m going to administer the anaesthesia now. You’ll have to leave, Nirvana,” Eryn said.
She patted the back of his hand and wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what.
“Go,” Zane said, and he let go of her hand.
Nirvana walked out of the operating theater into the observation room. Ching had dropped by earlier to wish them luck and give Eryn a morale boost. He’d left for work but told Eryn he’d be back with lunch for them. Ramsey and Alden stayed behind to serve as assistants to Eryn while the rest of the crew split up to acquire items needed for the mission.
She wanted to stay and observe the entire operation, but she knew she would be more useful elsewhere. Eryn had estimated the operation would take eight hours. She might as well head back to the yurt and keep herself busy.
The first thing she did was to remove Ching’s bugs. Then she swept the entire
yurt to make sure that there were no more and along the way, cleaned every nook and cranny. By the time she was done, five hours had passed. She packed some clothes and Zane’s equipment and rode back to the lodge. She was tempted to drop by the operating theatre to check on them, but she resisted. They would have called her if anything had gone wrong. Instead, she went shopping to buy Zane some clothes. The poor fella was still wearing Ching’s.
After her shopping trip, she checked out of their honeymoon suite since another couple had reserved it in advance. She took their belongings to the crew’s suite and showered before slowly making her way to the operating theater.
To her surprise, Zane was already out of surgery and in the recovery room. The operation had gone so smoothly that it ended two hours early. He would be kept under until the swelling in his brain reduced. She offered to take over his care so that Eryn, Ramsey and Alden could get some rest. They looked exhausted. She was relatively familiar with the medical equipment since she was the one who’d acquired them for Athar, so Eryn only needed to brief her on a few things to look out for before she left.
The team would be back in eight hours, at 2500, in the dead of the night. Since Gebo’s day and night were a thirty-four hour cycle, and they would be working indoors, there was no reason to wait until daylight to operate on Nirvana. They also wanted to free up the operating theater in case it was needed for other emergencies.
The staff in the infirmary knew something was going on, but they didn’t know the details. Ching had decided not to get other medical personnel involved because of the confidentiality of this mission.
Eryn was officially on personal leave, and the operating theater was out of bounds. There wasn’t a burning need for anyone there to ask what was going on because they knew the nature of Nirvana’s job, and she had earned their respect over the years. Daxon, Asan, Levi and Helfer had offered to take over Zane’s care in shifts so that the team could focus on Nirvana’s operation.
Nirvana was alone with Zane until the team came back. She thought about doing some reading but she couldn’t focus. She kept checking on the data panels, worried that she might miss out on something important. She decided to talk to Zane instead, even though she knew he was unconscious and would not be able to hear anything she said. Somehow, she felt safer this way. She could tell him anything she wanted without having to worry about him over-thinking. Zane definitely had some issues she’d need to address for this relationship to work.
Eryn had told Nirvana earlier that Zane’s brain scans revealed that he suffered from depression and possibly paranoia too. She thought Nirvana should know since their minds were going to be linked, and it would affect her.
After thinking it through, she decided to just go with it. She had requested that Eryn keep the brain scan report from Zane until after the operation because she knew that he would have refused to proceed given the risk to her well-being.
He was the most reckless risk she had ever taken, but she had no regrets.
Chapter 32
Nirvana came to with the mother of all headaches. She couldn’t open her eyes, but she was growing aware of the movements and sounds around her.
“You need to up her painkillers. I can feel her head throbbing even though I popped my painkillers half hour ago. It’s not coming from me.”
“She’s not conscious yet. You won’t be able to feel anything from her. In fact, according to what we know, you’ll need to work on the connection. It won’t come just like that.”
Zane, she thought. Can you hear me?
“Nirvana?”
She felt the bed dip and someone holding her hand.
I can’t move my body. Rub my fingers and toes. Help me move them.
Zane rubbed her fingers vigorously. He could hear her thoughts!
“This is insane!” Eryn exclaimed. “We’re supposed to wait until the swelling in her brain reduces.”
The senses were slowly coming back to her fingers. She tried hard to move them and managed to twitch a couple of fingers.
Move them one by one.
Zane massaged her fingers one by one. Can you hear me too?
Yep.
Wow.
Wow indeed. Hello.
Hello, love.
Nirvana would have smiled if she could, but she was still struggling to feel her body. Zane massaged her right thigh and gradually moved towards her toes.
When did you wake up? she asked.
In the afternoon. I woke up, and you were already beside me. Then Eryn checked on me and I fell asleep again. Got up an hour ago. It’s 2615 now. Should we stop talking like this? I feel like my head’s going to explode.
Yes. Ask Eryn to put me back to sleep. I want to split my skull.
“Eryn, she wants to go back under. The pain is getting unbearable.”
“I think both of you should stop communicating. You’re not supposed to activate it during recovery.”
“Yeah, ok.” Zane leaned over and kissed Nirvana gently on her lips. “Eryn’s going to knock you out again.”
Then, there was darkness.
The next time Nirvana got up, she was aching all over, but the headache was significantly less. She wanted to lift up her hand to rub her eyes, but someone was holding it.
Zane.
His head and arms were resting just beside her thigh, and he was holding onto her hand. She slowly pulled her hand from under him and rubbed the bristles on his head. Damn, she missed his hair.
Zane jolted up from his position looking a little disoriented. He broke into a wide smile when he realized she was up.
She felt him. She felt his pure joy and relief wash over her the moment his eyes met hers. She knew the feeling was not from her because it felt different.
“I feel you,” he said, with wonder in his eyes.
“Me too,” she mouthed when she realized nothing was coming out of her throat.
You don’t have to talk. I hear you all the same. He smiled at her, dimples denting his cheeks.
She reached out to touch them. They seem deeper after you shave…
I can shave more often if you like. He held her hand and rubbed it against his cheek.
The door suddenly burst open with Eryn rushing in, followed by Ching.
“You’re up! How are you feeling?” Eryn asked excitedly. She shone her little flashlight into Nirvana’s eyes and checked the data monitors on the machine.
Nirvana gave her a thumbs up.
“The operation went smoother than expected, and you’re both responding very well to it! Do you feel any dizziness? Pain?”
“I’m fine,” Nirvana managed to croak. “Thank you.”
Ching smiled and squeezed her hand. “Can’t tell you how relieved I am.”
She smiled back at him and rasped, “I’m fine.”
“I can discharge you in an hour or so if your stats remain stable, but you should stay at the lodge so that I’m nearby in case of emergency. Your crew will also be able to check on the both of you for me. Ok?” Eryn asked.
Nirvana nodded.
“Good,” Eryn said, visibly relieved. She gestured to Ching and herself, “We’ll both sleep better knowing you’re near.”
“We’ll be fine,” Zane said. “You should get some proper rest now. You’ve been working too hard.”
Ching curved his hand around Eryn’s nape and massaged it. “I think you need to get some rest. There are plenty of people looking after them.”
“Alright, I’ll go get your medication ready,” Eryn said and walked out of the room, with Ching following behind.
“How long was I out?” Nirvana croaked, her throat feeling dry and sore. Zane stood up and poured a glass of water for her. He propped her up on the pillow and held the glass to her lips.
“Roughly twenty-six hours?” he answered, tilting the glass slowly to help her with small sips. “You woke up halfway through the recovery. Do you remember? Eryn had to put you back under.”
Nirvana seemed to recall talking to
him. “Was it when I asked you to rub my fingers and toes?”
“Yes! You were in the operating theater when I woke up. They refused to let me see you after the op was over. I only got to see you about five hours later, but I think I accidentally woke you up even though you were still under sedation. Eryn thought it could be my chip interfering, so she banned me from your room. They only let me in after the swelling in your brain had reduced significantly.”
Testing. Nirvana tried out the chip.
“No, don’t,” Zane chided her gently. “I’m halfway through the manual. Let me read everything before we try it out.”
There were so many things she wanted to say to Zane, but her head felt woozy. She fought to stay awake; she wanted to get up and move. She needed to stretch her muscles.
“You should rest. It’s not really wise to try walking in this state.”
Before she could respond to him, images of toppling out of bed came to her mind. Interesting. He seemed to know her thoughts even though he told her they shouldn’t try to communicate.
“Did you fall out of bed when you tried to get up the first time?” she asked.
“Yep. It was a good thing I wasn’t alone.”
“Al and Rams held you up.”
“How did you know?”
She pointed to her head. “I can see that memory somehow, and you seem to know what I’m thinking.”
“I think we should split up until you’re fully recovered. We keep using the chips subconsciously.”
Nirvana closed her eyes and leaned on Zane. Her head was spinning. She could hear him mutter a curse under his breath as he tried to lay her back down. She wanted to say something to him but she lost the fight to stay conscious.
Chapter 33
Zane discharged himself immediately after Nirvana had passed out. He needed to keep himself far away from her. Levi accompanied him back to the crew’s suite so that everyone could help to keep an eye him. Eryn and Ching promised to keep him updated about Nirvana’s recovery.
Over the next few days, Zane focused on reading the manual as fast as he could. He communicated frequently with Dr. Erika Eklund, the head scientist behind the chip, and updated her on their progress as much as he could.
Fatal Extraction Page 16
